How Old Is He?
by Wolf K9
Summary: Four year old Kakashi will do anything to become a ninja, even break the rules and lie to the Hokage.
1. Chapter 1

"Hey! Hey you!"

"Hmm?" Kakashi hums, stopping in his stride to face a child who looks to be about the same age as him. "Do I know you?"

"I'm Iruka! Wanna play ninja?" the other child grins and immediately Kakashi frowns behind his mask. Kids are so stupid. Never mind the fact Kakashi is a kid himself, other kids are just dumb. Who would want to play ninja when you could be one?

He eyes the child before him and tilts his head to the side, "why don't you play with them?" Kakashi points to a bunch of children behind Iruka. "It looks like they're already playing. You could just join them."

Iruka looks over his shoulder. "Yeah but, they're already in the academy and we don't join until we're five."

"So?" Kakashi shrugs, already beginning to walk away.

"So? So, you're the same age as me! We should play ninja!"

"Mah, I don't have time," Kakashi says.

Ninja huh? That kid was right about being a certain age to join the academy, and being only four himself, Kakashi would have to wait another year and then an additional four to become a genin. But that's only if he took the normal routes.

Kakashi smirks, deciding to take a detour to the Hokage tower before heading home. Maybe he could get the geezer to let him into the academy early, Kakashi is a genius after all and his father wouldn't mind. And if not, he could always do the shinobi thing and cheat his way in.

xxx

"No."

"No?"

"No."

"Well, why not?" Kakashi asks, standing before the Hokage's desk on his tippy toes. Even with the added boost, his forehead barely reaches the top of the table. "I already know the academy's three jutsus."

"There's rules for a reason," The Third says, blowing a cloud of smoke into his office.

Rules? Hah, the old man was breaking two! No smoking in the Hokage tower and no smoking near children. Even if the Hokage was the leader of the village, no one should be above the law! But… then again… (Kakashi deftly steals a blank application from the Hokage's desk) Kakashi isn't above a little rule breaking now and then. Besides, if a little kid could get away with what he has planned, then all the ninja in the village were incompetent idiots anyway.

"I understand, Hokage-sama," Kakashi curtly nods, landing on his heals and taking a step back.

"Enjoy your childhood, Kakashi-kun. You'll be a fine ninja in no time."

Kakashi nods again, heading for the door with his pilfered academy application.

* * *

 **A/N:** I wanted to write a Kakashi time travel fic (it was going to be my first fanfic and it was gonna be awesome!) but then I was doing research to get the timeline right, and nothing makes sense! You see:

Age 4: goes to academy

Age between 4-5: father dies

Age 5: becomes Genin

Age 6: becomes chunin

But none of that makes sense because Obito and Rin graduated at 9 years old, but according to the manga Kakashi graduated in the same year as them, so then that would mean that Obito and Rin are 3-4 years older than Kakashi (Which I'm totally ok with). However Gai, Asuma, and other people are in the same graduating class as them, and they're also the same age as Kakashi. Plus Kakashi beat Gai's team during the chunin exams, so then all of Kakashi's generation graduated at the age of 5-6, since Kakashi graduated at that age and they were all there in the chunin exam... But that makes no sense! Because Kakashi is a prodigy, and then what does that say about Itachi?

So in order for everything to make sense, and keep the timeline in tact, meaning everyone graduates at the same time, Kakashi would be 3-4 years younger than all his pears. Which then means that he's about the same age as Iruka.


	2. Chapter 2

"We have a new student today. This is Hatake Kakashi."

"Yo," Kakashi waved, lazily scanning the room. He didn't have a very high impression of the academy. His classmates were dull and easy to read and his Chunin Sensei didn't seem to be the sharpest Kunai in the shed. The man couldn't even detect the Henge Kakashi was under when he pat Kakashi's head.

"Any questions for Hatake-kun?" the Chunin asked.

"Oh, oh!" A goggled boy raised his hand. Judging by the class reports Kakashi had read this would be Uchiha Obito. "Why's your hair grey?"

Dumb. Kakashi's classmates were dumb, unprofessional and lacking the skill it took to become shinobi.

"It's silver," Kakashi stated, nodding to another boy he recognized as Sarutobi Asuma.

"Any relation to the White Fang?"

"Yes," Kakashi sighed, and shrugged to a no name civilian girl.

"Do you have a girl friend?"

Kakashi twitched but was quick to school his features. Shinobi must never show any emotion. Still, was that girl stupid? They were what? Eight, nearing nine years old… much to young to be in a relationship.

"No."

The Chunin Sensei chuckled, and Kakashi could practically feel how tense the Chunin was. "Well, Hatake-kun, why don't you have a seat by Obito?"

Said boy waved and Kakashi made his way to the back of the classroom. "Hi, I'm Uchiha Obito. Nice to meet you!" He stuck out his hand.

"I know," Kakashi grunted, ignoring the hand and plopped himself in the chair. He ignored the, 'jerk' coming from his side.

Kakashi eyed the Sensei as the man went over the theory of the Henge… The same Jutsu Kakashi was currently under. What a drag. There was nothing Kakashi could learn here. Well maybe he could hone in on his skill by using the academy as practice.

He successfully infiltrated the academy, so now he could work on sabotage and espionage. Both were great skills to have if Kakashi ever decided to join the Anbu.

xxx

After school, Kakashi tailed after the Uchiha.

There was one thing he had overlooked when infiltrating the academy. And that was the need for school supplies.

It would be strange if four year old Hatake Kakashi went into a shop requesting textbooks and dulled weapons, and going as a eight year old Kakashi was completely out of the question. Kakashi might not have been well known, but his hair alone gave away his relationship to Sakumo. Word would travel back to his father quickly if Kakashi did anything strange. As a prodigy, requesting books below Genin level and academy appropriate weapons when he'd been working with sharp tools his whole life, would be a dead give away.

So Kakashi followed Uchiha Obito. Once he gathered enough data about his target's personality, he would impersonate his classmates to buy the tools required.

Trailing the Uchiha was quite eye opening. The boy was liked by almost everyone he talked to. Civilians seemed fond of him and would often tease him about their class mate Nohara Rin. The Uchiha also looked to be the black sheep of his clan.

One of the reasons Kakashi had dropped his Henge to return to his four year old self, was because he feared that the police force would notice his disguise. With their Sharingan it would take a miracle to not get caught. But there were no Uchiha guarding Obito from the shadows and any that came within a certain distance would skirt away.

This just made his job a whole lot easier. Kakashi waited for Obito to enter a house on the outskirts of the Uchiha compound before heading to the weapon shop.

A quick Henge later, and Uchiha Obito stood where Kakashi was and the boy jumped off the roof.

"Oji-chan," Kakashi called, grinning like a fool at the weaponsmith behind the counter.

"Ah, Obito-kun, back for another set of weapons already?"

"Yeah," Kakashi rubbed the back of his head like he saw Obito do. "I was practicing and might have lost a few."

"Alright, one sec-"

"Oh, and can I get a pouch too? Mine got shredded."

"Sure," the man said and quickly brought the items over and rung up the purchase.

"Thanks Oji-chan! I'm going to be the best ninja ever!" Kakashi said as he passed over the required ryo and attached his new pouch to his leg. Still grinning like a fool, Kakashi waved at the old man and slipped out of the shop. Once sure that he was away from any prying eyes, he dropped the henge. "Ah, I've reached my word quota for the day." A shame since he still had to buy textbooks.

* * *

 **A/N:** Kinda boring chapter, but I felt it was needed to build up for the following chapters. From here, there should be more interaction between Kakashi and people.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I own nothing

* * *

"I'm home."

"Ah, Kakashi, welcome back," Sakumo said but there was something off about the way his father grinned at him as if he wanted to laugh. Or maybe he was just holding back an even larger smile.

Kakashi just cocked his head to the side and raised a brow as if saying, 'I know you want to say something. So just say it, or I'll find out myself.'

"So, um, you've been going out a lot. Make any new friends?"

"No."

"Oh," Sakumo's face dropped and Kakashi mentally slapped himself for not picking up on his father's emotions sooner. Of course Sakumo would want his son to make friends.

"I went to the park and played with some kids." There, that was good. Not calling them friends, but still giving his father a bit of hope that Kakashi wasn't the socially challenged child that he really was.

"What are their names?"

Obito, Rin, Gai, Asuma, Kurenai, Genma…. "I don't know, they're just some kids." Yeah, kids who were his senior by a good four years or so and at the academy while Kakashi was supposedly at the park. And Kakashi did not play with them, he dealt with them in the only way he knew how.

Beating them up.

"Tomorrow I could walk you to the park," Sakumo offered and Kakashi frowned. "I mean, if you want."

"No," Kakashi said and then added in completely serious tones for a four year old, "I'm a big boy now."

xxx

The minute Kakashi walked down the block and turned a corner down a side alley to Henge, he felt eyes on his back.

So stuffing his hands in his pocket, he walked down the alley, as if he was meant to be there and took a detour. He passed the academy at least three times, the park five times, and he even made to head back to his house a total of ten times and still he felt that lurking presence tailing him.

On the fourth pass around the academy, Kakashi saw a head of silver hair reflected in a window and immediately knew it was his father. Damn, nosey parents. To the park, it was…

Kakashi made his way into the park, and nearly sighed when his father hunkered down on one of the rooftops overlooking the field. Great, he was going to have to put on a show for the man and- and play…

Kakashi approached the child he remembered talking to before infiltrating the academy. The boy, Iruka, if he remembered correctly, was squatting near the edge of the sand box, stick in hand with his nose scrunched up and tongue sticking out in a thinking pose.

Kakashi cocked his head to the side, looking at the sand then back to Iruka. If the boy was trying to draw in the sand he was doing a horrible job at it. He couldn't even make out the lines from the usual hills that footprints caused, but Iruka looked at it as if it were a masterpiece.

"What are you doing?" Kakashi asked, growing bored of staring at dirt.

Iruka jumped, not having sensed his presence and pointed dramatically. "It's you!"

"Yo," Kakashi waved.

Iruka glared.

Kakashi stared.

Iruka blinked, glancing at his art work then back to Kakashi. "Wanna draw?" He offered up the stick.

Kakashi squatted at the edge of sand box, silently inviting Iruka to do the same. "I can't even make out what you've been drawing," he said, completely honest.

"Whaddaya mean?" Iruka gasped. "Look, that's a dragon," he pointed to one lump of sand. "That's the castle with the princess," he pointed again before moving his stick to shallow hole, "and that's me!"

Kakashi glared at the sand, willing it to form some sort of pattern or something but it didn't. "Your drawing sucks."

"What!? No it doesn't! Yours sucks!"

"You don't even know what my drawing looks like," Kakashi pointed out.

"Well, show me!"

"Hmm." Kakashi looked around, he knew what the problem was. Dry sand was always hard to draw in unless it was flat and even then it would be difficult to make things out. But if it were wet… Kakashi got up heading to the water hose.

"Hey, what are you-" SPLASH- "Ack! Baka! Stop!"

"No. Move. You're in the way," Kakashi tugged at the hose a bit more but it wouldn't reach the edge of the box. He continued shooting the water toward the box and thankfully Iruka darted out of the way. He looked crestfallen when his drawing his washed away and taking that as a sign, Kakashi dropped the hose, not even bothering to turn it off, and approached the box to see his work.

Kakashi nodded at the flat sand. "Now watch," he snatched the stick from the other boy's grasp. "This is how you draw in sand." He drew squiggly lines and straight lines, the stick easily cutting through the sand with each stroke and before he knew it he had a passable image of Pakkun. "There."

"That's not fair," Iruka pouted. "My drawing would have been better if the sand was wet!"

"Pft, sure."

"Baka!"

"Oi! My name's Kakashi!"

"Like a scarecrow?" Iruka asked, shooting Kakashi a smug look as if that was the worst name he ever heard. "Well, it's my turn now." He took a step back and before Kakashi could even move out of the way, Iruka shot the water hose at his fellow four year old.

xxx

That day, Kakashi got back home, cold, wet and dirty.

"Eh, Kakashi what happened?"

"Don't even ask," Kakashi shot his father a dirty glare. This was all his fault! If Sakumo hadn't been following Kakashi to begin with, Kakashi could have been clean and warm… and bored, because school was boring, but still clean and not reduced to his current state. "I need a shower."

Clones. He needed solid clones.


End file.
